This invention concerns a multifunction centrifuge which has a rotor rotatable about a vertical axis and at least two centrifuge chambers accommodated in the rotor.
Centrifuges are generally used for performing the operations of centrifugation, decanting or pouring off the floated-up fraction, mixing, suspending, photometry and the evaluation of the particle size distribution. However, known centrifuges can only perform some or the other, but not all of the tasks enumerated above. There is no known centrifuge which can perform all of these tasks. Some of the known multifunction centrifuges can be used for suspending and decanting but to use these for photometric measurement is very difficult because they employ outswinging centrifuge tubes for centrifuging. The so-called Coombs centrifuges, the Merz+Dabe and the Serval centrifuges are of this type.
Another type of automatic centrifuge is capable of suspending but has the disadvantage that the lighter fraction (buoyant material) is not separated from the sediment with sufficient distinctions. Moreover, photometric measurement during rotation, i.e. particle size analysis, is not possible.
A further disadvantage is that the process of mixing requires an intricate mechanical construction. This type of centrifuge cannot be manufactured in a small-size variant.